The cybercriminal can also sell information about the victim's browsing habits to third parties for marketing purposes.Ī browser hijacker may contain spyware, enabling the attacker to obtain the user's banking information, credit card number or other sensitive data. When the user clicks on the search results, the hijacker gets paid. Next, the hijacker redirects a victim's web searches to links the hijacker wants the victim to see, rather than to legitimate search engine results. For instance, a browser redirects the victim's homepage to the hijacker's search page. Part of the aim of a browser hijacker is to help the cybercriminal generate fraudulent advertising revenue. It is often called a browser redirect virus because it redirects the browser to other, usually malicious, websites. Gillis, Technical Writer and EditorĪ browser hijacker is a malware program that modifies web browser settings without the user's permission and redirects the user to websites the user had not intended to visit.